Euro Spikes Higher on Dovish Fed Comments Before FOMC Minutes

The euro today spiked higher in the early American session following dovish comments by Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, which drove the US dollar lower. The EUR/USD currency was range bound for most of today’s session despite the release of several macro prints from across the eurozone.
The EUR/USD currency pair today spiked from a session low of 1.1438 to a high of 1.1541 breaking the crucial 1.1500 barrier before retracing some of its gains.
The currency pair rallied slightly after the release of the German trade balance data in the early European session, but could not break out of its range. According to Germany’s Federal Statistical Office, the trade balance for November was recorded at €19.0 billion missing expectations by a massive euro €1.0 billion. However, the exports figure contracted by 0.4%, which was higher than the expected 0.3% decline, while imports also contracted by 1.6%. The pair headed lower despite the release of upbeat Eurozone unemployment data for November by Eurostat, which came in at 7.9% versus the expected 8.1%. The pair remained range bound up to the early American session.
The currency pair exploded higher following comments by Atlanta Fed Raphael Bostic who stated that the Fed should be patient before any further rate hikes. His comments marked the first time in years when a Fed member was open to cutting interest rates.
The currency pair’s short-term performance is likely to be affected by the release of the December FOMC minutes at 19:00 GMT today.
The EUR/USD currency pair was trading at 1.1526 as at 17:15 GMT  having rallied from a low of 1.1438. The EUR/JPY currency pair was trading at 124.85 having risen from a low of 124.46.

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Original from: www.earnforex.com